Super Smash Bros Ultimate

So the new Smash Bros came has been out for a little over a week. Its one of the greatest games I've ever played. A few months ago I was reading more than gaming but now I'm back gaming a lot, due in part to this game. Things have changed. This game is amazing. I'm going to copy a quote that I saw on the back of the Final Fantasy 7 Greatest Hits edition for Playstation back when I was in middle school: Quite possibly the greatest game ever made. The same could be said for Smash Ultimate. 

The freaking roster in this game is insane. There are 74 playable characters in this game. Which says to me that there's no way they can balance this game. Balancing is the process the developers do to make sure no characters are better or worse than others. I don't think there's any real cohesive way to do that in a game with almost 80 characters. But I ain't complaining! 

All the main heroes and villains are here: Mario, Bowser, Link, Samus, Ness, Kirby, Yoshi. And then there are tons of new characters too: Inkling, Ridley, Simon Belmont, Dark Samus, Chrom, Ken. Simply because of the 74 characters you can never get bored. If you lose with your best character you still have 73 other ones to try against your opponent, with endless possibilities with your combos. I play a lot of Ridley right now but I've also been playing a lot of Fox. 

The gameplay is your bread and butter smash. However, the physics in Ultimate actually seems a bit faster than its predecessor, Smash 4.  Perfect pivots seem easier to do. Characters run faster. Slow characters don't seem as slow as Smash 4. In Smash 4 Gannondorf seemed like an elephant. In Ultimate he's more like a rhino. The combos from the old games still work in this game and the strategy remains the same; knock your opponent off the stage and 1) KO them with an attack or 2) edge guard them so they can't make it back to the stage, resulting in them falling to their death. 

My friend's best character is Yoshi and he wins against me using the same tactics from Smash 4, usually a spike off the ledge. Some characters get new moves too. For example, Kirby got his fireball dash attack from Melee (Smash's Gamecube version). Using combinations of old strategies from the classic games and new moves from here you can create interesting new strategies and ways to play. Nintendo has made an art form out of kicking tail. 

The soundtrack to this game is pure bliss. It contains mostly every song from mostly every famous Nintendo game. You can change the music on every stage. The music grows on you. Once you play the game for about a week you start to memorize the music and it gets stuck inside your head (my experience). However, the music is so good here that I can hardly be upset, this music is great! 

There's only one bad thing I can say about Smash Ultimate. Its just the fact that you can clearly tell that Nintendo doesn't put much effort into their online systems. Sure, the online experience is 'free', but Nintendo's free means laggy servers. You can't play Smash Ultimate four players online because the game will lag and 'break' (lag so hard you can't do anything). 

Not only that but I've also heard bad lag stories with people even using the wired connection over wireless. This is 2018, wireless gaming is a norm. The fact that Nintendo can't get this right is a little pathetic. Yes, I'm being harsh. But you see, I'm a connoisseur who's been playing Smash since 64 days in grammar school. 

But that's not all. "The matchmaking process was further criticized for making it difficult for friends to join matches over random players, and not allowing multiple local players to join in online matches. Fans of the series had complained so much on Ultimate's Reddit page that the administrators forwarded all complaints to a separate thread." (wiki) 

But despite those negatives the positives overflow here. This game is so great that I've been playing it nonstop since December 9, when my friend got it. Because he has a Switch and I don't, I can only play it at his house. Even after playing it many hours almost two weeks straight, I don't feel bored. This game has a very good new car smell, so to speak. Its captured the zeitgeist, a moment forever trapped in time, in 2018, a golden age of video gaming. As a hardcore Smash 4 player who went to tournaments, I look forward to continuing my Smash tournament runs in this game. And although I'm too broke too afford a Switch this holiday season, I'll eventually get a Switch when the price goes down, and I'll own this fantastic work of art. 

You done did good Nintendo.

Fire and Dice, A Refuge for Nerds in the Valley

I've been on vacation for a week. I'm just hanging out at home away from work, laying low for a while. It's an unpaid vacation so I'm going to be working for free for a week but its fine. I wanted to talk about my favorite hangout place with my friends-Fire and Dice!

Fire and Dice is a hobby shop that I've been going to for over a year now. You can find old blog posts where I wrote about my sm4sh tournaments there and how I did and stuff. It used to be located on Ventura and De Soto but it moved to a bigger space and is now located at on Vanowen and Winnetka. It didn't move far and I can always catch a ride there with friends if I provide a bit of gas money. The place is known for its board games, Magic the Gathering tournaments, and Smash 4 tournaments which occur every Thursday.

I used to be obsessed with attending every sm4sh weekly and getting better and better. As I started working more I never got Thursdays off so I haven't been able to attend for a super long time. However, I've been getting lots of Mondays off, which are Magic the Gathering tournament nights. Since I started playing Magic there I've met many new friends, one of which even made me a really good deck. I've become pretty good at the game and gained a much better understanding of the tactics than from when I used to play as a middle schooler.

I actually go there to play Magic often now. I wish I could go to more Sm4sh tournaments there but honestly I'm so rusty in Sm4sh that I'm sure some high school Sm4sh junkie that plays 24/7 would crush me. That wouldn't stop me from attending though. I'd still be down, and I might even go tomorrow. But that's the topic for another post. Here I wanted to talk about how great fad (Fire and Dice) is.

Fad is the most fun place I can go to with my more nerdy friends. I have another set of friends who wouldn't set foot at fad because they hate smelly nerds crowded in a small space (we experienced this when I took them to a big sm4sh tournament) and also they aren't into magic or board games. However, my more nerdy friends and I love going to fad because its like a refuge, a safe haven for people like us-nerds.

The fact that tournaments are cheap ($5 commander league magic the gathering, which I enter every Monday that I can attend if I'm off work, and $10 sm4sh singles entry) and that you can hang out there until 10 pm is just icing on the cake. If you don't want to play magic, or participate in their Dungeons and Dragon event (every Wednesday) you can relax and play one of their many board games that they have out in the open on display. I really want to play their Mario chess game sometime, that would be sick.

Fad has improved my social life a lot. I've met so many cool people and new friends just by hanging out there. I'm probably never going to meet a girl friend there or anything but I always have a good time every time I go. I've actually come to find video gaming to be a bore because I'm so used to going to fad and playing magic with friends. I find hanging out in a social environment much more fun and better than sitting in my room on my computer and playing games.

All in all fad is a hip and happening place when it comes to hobby shop fun and gaming in the valley. There's other hobby shops but fad is the best one I've been to. Game Ogre was another great place in the valley (used to be in Northridge) but I heard today that they moved to Agoura Hills. Guess fad really is the best place for nerds in the valley.

There's so much more stuff to do there that I haven't done too. I was thinking about eventually getting into the Dungeons and Dragons scene on Wednesdays. Maybe one day. I wanted to write about how cool fad is because I've been really enjoying hanging out there on my vacation. Its a great store and its run by a bunch of super cool Asian guys. If you enjoy sm4sh, magic the gathering, dungeons and dragons, and board games you should definitely check this place out!

Smash 4 player Abadango signed to Luminosity Gaming

Pro Smash 4 player Yuta "Abadango" Kawamura has signed to Luminosity Games. This was heard from an esports organization the other night. This news comes in the middle of the Big House 6 tournament that was went on in Michigan. It appears that Super Smash Bros players are getting signed by pro gaming teams left and right.

Is this the hype of Smash 4 finally hitting the masses and people love the game and want to see it bigger as an esport? I think so. It's pretty much the best fighting game I've ever played. I've played all iterations growing up but I think Smash 4 is just far out. I used to go to a lot of Smash 4 tournaments but I haven't been to a tourney in a super long time. I plan on changing that soon. But that's another story...

These pro Smash players are getting signed everywhere now.

"Just over a week ago, the recently formed BOXR, founded by Counter-Strike: Global Offensive commentator Mohan “launders” Govindasamy, signed Super Smash Bros. Melee player Julian “Zhu” Zhuand. Prior to that, James ‘Duck’ Ma was picked up by Denial eSports last August, and Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman joined Echo Fox, NBA player Rick Fox’s esports organization, back in May. Not to be outdone, G2 eSports went on to sign their own Melee pro with Weston “Westballz” Dennis being added to the organization in July." (Kotaku)

Abadango is an Smash veteran who came up in the Brawl era. He started off as a Wario main but then switched to Pac-Man, Metaknight, and Megaman in Smash 4. After patches 1.1.3 and 1.1.5 he found an epic Mewtwo style. Mewtwo's buffs weren't understand before he came along.

He won a big tournament earlier this year at Pound 2016. He's currently the 5th best Smash 4 player according to the ratings.

Luminosity Gaming’s founder, Steve Maida, said:

“We have always had our eye on the FGC community, and have been actively looking at players and possibilities in the scene. After meeting with Abadango, getting to know him and his history within the competitive scene, it was clear that he was someone we wanted on Luminosity. This is just the beginning of our journey into FGC and there is surely more to come. The community is unlike any other in gaming and one we hope to be a welcomed, contributing member of for years to come!” (Kotaku)

This North American esports organization also has Overwatch, League of Legends, and Hearthstone teams. Their CS GO team won the ESL ESEA Pro League Season Three finals-earning $200,000.

Smash 4 is finally getting professionalized. We knew that you could win tournaments and make money by defeating everybody. But to actually make a full time career of it is hard to do. I have many friends who all play Smash and a lot of them try to do something in the gaming industry. Some are great players who are trying to go pro or semi-pro, artists, casters, technicians, TO's (tournament organizers), and then some of them are like me-people who play for the love of the game but wants to keep getting better and experiencing more of the tournament environment.

Everybody wants to do something based around competitive smash. It's one of the most beloved games in SoCal and around the world. I think because of all these signings and esports associations the game will development into a more interesting meta as well as make the game more respectable in the fighting game community.

I'm pretty glad to hear this. I still love playing Smash 4 with my friends. We just played today. I rapid fire picked Cloud and my friend was all like,"Everybody has a pocket cloud..." And I was like,"Heh. Yep."

Funny

Fire and Dice Smash tournament 2/25

     Today was just one of those days where nothing worked out for me. Unfortunately that was what went down in my tournament matches as well. Before the tournament I was hanging out with my friends in the morning and we decided to go to some no name Mexican restaurant that wasn't very good. They messed up my order and then made me pay extra for the mix-up because my meal was more than whatever they gave me. Then later on when I got to Fire and Dice I went to this pizza place called Fretteli's and they messed up my order as well. I ordered a large pizza with bacon and pepperoni and instead they gave me a small pizza with bacon and pepperoni. In the end I guess it was ok because they decided to give me the small pizza for free and then make me my large pizza as well. I ended up sharing a lot of the extra pizza with my friends and some fellow smashers. This isn't really bad stuff but it really got to me because I was super hungry when I ate at both of those places. To put more salt in the wound, earlier in the morning my friend and I played smash and he's not better than me or anything and I just got bodied super hard, a lot of the time barely losing matches. In the last match he zero to death-ed me with Gannondorf and I just walked off the stage and left the room. I've never been that salty before to do that but there's a first time for everything. Today was just not a good day. But I digress.
      In my first set I played against Jinx, this really good Rosalina player that I saw playing doubles with Aphro. I just got bodied. He played a super campy defensive Rosalina, focusing on punishes. I don't think I played bad against him but I did sd (suicide death) in one of the games. I would say overall my neutral and spacing has gotten much better but there are sometimes when you can't do much against a more skilled player. I was playing Bayonetta in both games. It was a fast 2-0 for him.
     My second set was against Abyss, a random character player. He doesn't really have a main. He's a cool guy and we've talked before but never got to play until today. He played Lucina game one and kept breaking my shield with her side-B sword charge. I kept falling for it and getting shield broken and forward smashed. This happened three times in a row! Needless to say that game was over fast. Game two I switched to Zero Suit Samus and he went Game and Watch. This game was much closer but again, what can I do when my opponent is much more skilled than I am? I'd have to play a perfect game without any mistakes and pull a rabbit out of my hat, which didn't happen unfortunately. In the end it was another quick loss. I lost two sets in the blink of an eye. It was the worst I've ever played smash in tournament ever. I was pretty salty but I still said good game and stuff to the guys.
     My reaction to playing my worst day of smash 4? Just sitting down and taking it all in by playing some friendlies and talking to friends. This didn't help at all because I was in such a bad mood and funk that I just kept losing every game to dumb stuff. I kept doing dumb stuff and getting hit by dumb stuff. Everything was just terribad and I couldn't focus on the game at all. I'm thinking about listening to music when I play at tournaments just so I can calm down and focus. Today just wasn't fun. But there are going to be days like this and I need to accept the fact that people are just better than me at the game and that it might take be months, if not years to surpass them. I consider smash a big part of my life and I want to become good enough to get top ten at Fire and Dice but the more I go, the more I realize that it's becoming insurmountable.
     I watched a few games but I was kind of detached from everything. I saw my friend lose to a Sonic because he sd'd and lost his momentum. My friend Saladin played really well today although he sd'd in a crucial game three. One of my Simi Valley friends beat JeDi using Toon Link. I didn't really watch any of the high level players today but I saw Aphro pull off this sick Bayonetta combo where he took his opponent super high into the top of the stage and killed them. I've gotta learn how to do that if I'm going to seriously play Bayonetta. As far as all the salt goes today, after writing about it and venting I'm honestly not that upset. When I got home I played some matches on For Glory and did pretty well, until I lost a game because I was timed out by a Greninja that just kept running. In the end its just a game and there will always be players striving to be the best. Everybody has bad days. I just have to put in more hard work and effort, and just keep playing the game. Hopefully, I'll be able to take these guys out sooner rather than later. Thanks for reading, peace out. 

Fire and Dice smash tournament 2/18

     Today was a sick smash tournament at Fire and Dice. It was a relatively small crowd this week and there were plenty of setups so I was able to get in a ton of friendlies before singles started. I met this guy named Daybreak (Falco main) from Michigan and he was pretty good. But I was able to beat him a couple times with my Zero Suit Samus. It was pretty good because he's one of those players that places top ten at locals in Michigan. Overall I played really well today although I still went 0 and 2. I can't be too upset because I played well in friendlies and I almost won my second set against my friend Fuzzballjones, a player who is way better than me. What an upset that would've been.
     My first set was against the best player from Simi Valley, DJDemon (Captain Falcon main). This guy just absolutely destroyed me. I haven't felt so helpless in a long time (lol). It was like the first tournament I ever went to and I went up against this guy Sean Pluto (another Falcon main) and he destroyed me in like twenty seconds. This guy beat me even faster than that. I'm exaggerating but he is a really good player. I can see him placing high at Fire and Dice if he keeps coming. His style is just so fast and aggressive that its hard for me to choose options to go for, and then suddenly out of nowhere I'm taking the knee to the face and losing a stock after a few combos. I don't even really know if there was anything I could've done against him that would've helped me. It was one of those sets. I went Zero Suit twice and lost pretty fast. I played him in friendlies before the tournament so I knew what to expect. I had confidence in myself because I've gotten so much better after only just a week of practice but this guy was on another level. This was really the first tournament I played in where I had a lot of confidence in my playing. It helped a lot during the second set.
     The second set was against my friend FuzzballJones. I thought he was going to go Roy so I didn't play Zero Suit because I don't like that match-up. So I went Bayo and he went Corrin. Corrin is his secondary. First game I beat him pretty convincingly. He was just getting hit by all my attacks and I just took the game. Second game he beat me with his Corrin but it was super close. Game three he decided to play Roy. He kept getting hit by pretty much all my attacks and it ended up being a close game with both of us over 100%. It was close but he ended up hitting me with some weird attack that took my jump. However, I do think I could've recovered back to the stage if I used Bayonetta's recovery a little differently. I was suppose to side-B then up-B then side-B again, I think. I'm not really sure but I still feel like I could've made it back to the stage if I had used the recovery in the most effective fashion. I don't know if I would've won but it would've been a big upset to beat Fuzzball because he's a super good player. I had it really close. I'll get him next time! He said that he thought he respected me way too much but honestly I think I've just gotten better at the game. I learned that Bayonetta is one of my strongest characters and that she's perhaps even better than my Zero Suit Samus. I'm not sure if that's true but for now I'm going to play a lot more Bayonetta at tournaments and see how I do.
     Lastly, it was fun watching the high level players duke it out. Grand finals was Zenyou versus K9 (Mario vs Sheik). At first Zenyou looked super good and was annihilating. But eventually K9 came back with a bracket reset and took the tournament. I felt like K9 was winning with the same kill move over and over again but somehow Zenyou kept air dodging and getting killed. I was secretly rooting for Zenyou but I really dig K9's Sheik style as well. Also, K9 versus Ahprho (Sheik vs Bayonetta) was a cool set. I would say that Ahprho is my favorite player that goes to Fire and Dice because he plays the same characters I do and he places high every week. I think that could be me someday if I git gud. I think today he got third. His Bayonetta took out Zork's Bowser and Zork is pretty much the best Bowser around. It was a nice little chill tournament today. I kind of prefer when there's less people because I can focus on the matches and play my best. I played really well today and I'm going to start playing more Bayonetta. I'm looking forward to next week for more tournament action!

How to 'Git Gud' At Smash

     I really want to get better at Smash 4. It's my favorite game that I've probably ever played in my entire life. I am pretty upsessed with it, and talk about it at every chance I get. My goal is to actually beat people at tournaments and get far at a local tourney. Most people just say things like 'git gud scrub', and shit like that but it takes a lot of effort and practice to get good. Here's some tips that I follow in my effort to 'git gud'.
     First, attend tournaments. This is hard for most people because real life gets in the way of gaming. Its hard for me to go to the local near my house but every chance I'm off from work I try to go. There's no substitute for tournament playing at playing friendlies in a lag-less For Glory-free environment. Tournies are great because you get to meet new people and play people who are better than you. That's the best part, because you get to play friendlies with people who have practiced and trained much harder than you have. When you win a game against them, you feel like a million bucks.
     Second, practice against your friends. Your friends probably aren't as good as the people at tournaments but they're the reason you started playing Smash. You originally started playing for fun with your friends. At least that's how it was for me. I didn't even think about going to a tournament until Smash 4 came out and I've been playing Smash games since Smash 64. My friends give me a good challenge and I can lab characters and techniques against them. One of my friends is so good I'd say he's tournament level and could beat some peeps up at a local tourney. The others are about even with me and still give me a good challenge, especially with my off characters.
      Third, play For Glory. This is something a lot of people don't really like because For Glory is so laggy sometimes. But sometimes your friends aren't around to play online with you or in person. That's when you play For Glory. For Glory is always online (most of the time) and there are plenty of challenging opponents on there that you can spar with.
     That's really the main things I work on. Another thing I would say is to work on playing only a few characters. For me I really only work on playing Zero Suit Samus but I still sometimes play Fox, Mario, Sheik, and Cloud now that he's available. There's other things I do as well like labbing against AI level 9's. Also, I watch a lot of pro replays. It's hard for me to really understand what's going on in the mind of a pro player but when I hear the announcers describing every move that's when I start to get it. The most important thing is to constantly keep playing. Eventually I'll get good enough to beat my opponents at the local tournament. That's my main goal for the future. Good luck and good games!

Cloud great character confirmed

     Cloud is already becoming a super good character in Smash 4 after only being out for a day! I know a lot of really good players that are way better than I am that are saying he's basically trash tier. But I disagree. Check out this Cloud game-play at a So-Cal Tournament Winners Finals here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOpkMggwrUA.
     Basically Markus, the Cloud player just annihlated WiiGi in every single game and WiiGi's Rob never stood a chance. The thing that I noticed a lot from Cloud is the spacing is very important for Cloud. If you can catch your opponent off guard, you can get in a lot of sword hits in. I noticed that whenever Cloud is floating or flying off stage he recovers and while he's doing that he's charging up his limit break. He's doing this like all the time and he gets the limit breaks all the time, very quickly. Cloud did a lot of up air spikes too. I guess the most important thing about Cloud's play style is his spacing and the ability to charge up the limit break while running and dodging. He has a lot of really great basic attacks and you can improvise and come up with a lot of interesting combos. There's a lot of follow ups you can do with him too. It's crazy that Cloud's only been out for one day and this guy Markus has already won a tournament here in SoCal. SoCal has a strong Smash scene so this is an amazing feat. It's great to see a Cloud player who really knows what he's doing. I guess people are losing to Cloud right now a lot because nobody knows the match up. Nobody knows what to do against him, including me. I've been having a hard time against the army of Clouds online. They all play the same style but I'm still having problems. Guess I better 'git good' haha. I'll practice harder and try to get better for sure though.

Smash 4 Final Presentation

      I was so hyped for this final Smash 4 video presentation. I got up around noon and waited until 2 PM, I was even on the Twitch stream early and the chat was going crazy even around 1 30 pm. What I can say is that I approve everything that I saw in the video today but I can't help but feel a bit disappointed that my boy Snake isn't going to be a dlc character. I was thinking they would add a whole bunch of characters, like the winners of the Smash ballot but I guess Sakurai did it right.
      Basically we learned that Smash 4 is getting some more updates and 2 new characters. We learned from the last Nintendo Direct that Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy was being added to the game. And today everybody downloaded him and now everybody and their grandma's are using Cloud online on For Glory. More on Cloud later. I figure they added Cloud because he was a popular vote from NA. But he wasn't the only character being added! They're adding the main character from Fire Emblem Fates, Corrin to the fight! He's a sword fighter who can turn into a dragon and has some pretty sick looking combos. He was a popular choice from Japan. Fire Emblem Fates has been out in Japan for a while now but it hasn't gotten an NA release yet so most of us NA people are like Corrin who? And lastly, Europe's biggest vote on the Smash ballot, we're getting Bayonetta! I am actually hyped for Bayonetta because her moves look sick. She looks so fast, maybe even faster than Sheik. Her combos look limitless with the improvisation you can do with it. I really like that gun of hers and how she can shoot with her feet. True demon stuff! Plus she's a new sexy waifu that will be added to Smash. Haha, but in all seriousness I think Corrin, Cloud, and especially Bayonetta will completely change the game. I think Bayonetta might be able to out combo Sheik, we'll have to wait and see.I downloaded Cloud, the Midgar stage, and some add-ons for like $10 today. Kind of a rip off Nintendo! The character alone should be like $3.99. But anyways, I got to downloaded the new update and Cloud and the Midgar stage. Here are my thoughts.
     Cloud is a great fighter but I don't think he will any significant impact on this game, especially at the competitive level. I don't think people are going to be busting out the buster sword at tournaments. I did happen to play a few good Clouds today online but they all play the same style online. Basically they were all dodging and avoiding all my attacks in an attempt to charge up their limit break and then try to hit me with it. Basic tactics. But if I hit them in a moment where there's an opening I can get in some combos. Some of them were pretty good too. I just don't see Cloud having an impact on this game at the tournament level. For casual play he'll be a great new addition to a game that already has plenty of fighters. I really dig the Midgar stage because of the classic Final Fantasy VII theme music from when you get into a battle. It's just that classic vibe. It would be cool to have Omega Midgar as a tournament stage, just for the music.
     At first, after I saw the 33 minute presentation, I was disappointed. As a huge fan of Smash and have only had a Wii U since September knowing there will be no new updates for Smash 4 makes me a bit sad. I don't know if there will be a Smash 5 and if there is, what can they really do it that hasn't already previously been done in earlier iterations? This leads me to believe that this is Nintendo's final Smash (get it?) game. The very thought of that makes me sad but I think this game will have a strong competitive scene for years to come. I also hope that the Wii U doesn't die too soon. I feel like Xenoblade Chronicles X and Bayonetta 2 breathed new life to the dying system recently. Nintendo needs some newer games to keep the Wii U alive. Right now there are only a few games worth getting just to have a Wii U and I would say they are Smash, Mario Kart 8, Xenoblade Chronicles X, and Bayonetta 2. If Nintendo wants to survive they need to keep updating their current systems. I know they are already working on a new console called the NX but I still care about the Wii U. I know its been out since 2012 but you can teach an old dog new tricks. That's just my two cents on the subject. I actually didn't like Nintendo until I got a 3DS XL and Smash 4. Smash 4 changed competitive gaming for me. Before all I knew was online gaming on the PC. But now I go to Smash tournaments and I have a lot of fun and meet a lot of cool people. Smash has been, well, smashing! The Wii U has been a great system just because of Smash. It was worth every penny and all the hard work that I had to do to pay for it. Enjoy this game. Enjoy these new characters. I can't wait until February when Corrin and Bayonetta get added.
     Lastly, I can't really be disappointed with all this great news. It's a great finale to an amazing fighting game. Who would think we would have a game where Ryu, Sonic, Megaman, Bayonetta, and Pac Man could duke it out in a fight? It's a dream come true for gamers. Thank you Masahiro Sakurai! He's made a masterpiece that will never be forgotten.

Nintendo Direct Hopes

     As all the Super Smash Bros 4 players know today is the big day for Nintendo's last video about updates given for Smash 4. Needless to say I'm hyped! Ever since I got Smash 4 on the Nintendo 3DS XL, I've loved Smash. Playing it with my friends when I first got it was the best time I've ever had playing a fighting game. And now I'm a competitive player and I go tournaments! Pretty crazy. I'm not the greatest player in the world but I'm okay and I can always become better with more practice. Everybody's super hyped about this last video about Smash. What we do know is that this is the final video presentation specifically about Smash. There's a chance there could be more videos but it won't be specifically about Smash. Like maybe Smash could be talked about while they're also talking about other games. I just read about that on Kotaku, a famous gaming site. In the last Nintendo Direct they announced at the very end that Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII was being added to the game. That's such a hype! I was so excited and weirded out that Cloud was being added to the game. I'm not quite sure but I believe he was a big vote for the Smash Ballot from Japan. And I think Japan has more sway over Smash because the Smash games were created by Sakurai, one of the greatest Japanese video-game makers ever. I'll tell you what I'm hoping for in the final Smash 4 presentation today.
     I'm hoping for more stages, possibly variations on older stages from Melee or 64. Looking forward to a Final Fantasy VII stage because of Cloud being in the game and all. I'm thinking they could do one stage where you're on top of the Shinra building. I'm also looking forward to more characters being announced, particularly the ones that got the most votes in the Smash Ballot. But the only character I'm wishing gets announced for sure is Snake from the Metal Gear Solid series. He's my favorite character in Brawl and Project M and I think he would be great in Smash 4 too. I'm also looking for some patch that changes the way Smash 4 is played. Smash 4 is too much of a defensive game. I'm hoping they come up with some new mechanic(s) that make the game more aggressive without having to rely on constantly jumping away and blocking all the time. That's really all I could hope they could do. It's not like they're going to bring back wavedashing or anything crazy like that. But I do believe they will patch the game at least one final time.
     Lastly, in a lot of ways I'm saddened that Nintendo would bring an end to this game. Ending updates to a game means that they will no longer be invested in this game in the long run. That's why I prefer PC games over consoles. At least on the PC, companies realize that in order to get people to buy the games, they have to keep them updated and always have new content. But on the other hand, with no more updates in Smash 4, the competitive community can finally concentrate and focus on what the actual game will be like because nothing new will be added and there won't be any new surprise patches that make and/or break characters. I remember when Luigi was super powerful. And when Diddy Kong just beat everybody's ass. Then Nintendo patched the game and they were weakened heavily. I think of Smash 4 as another game in the Smash canon. I believe there will be a Smash 5 on Nintendo's new NX system. And I'll probably be playing that as well. I don't really have high hopes for the Wii U. The only great game to come out of the Wii U is Smash 4 in my professional opinion. But for me that's all I need to recognize it as a great console. With Nintendo's President dead we have no real idea where the company will go with their new console but I hope they make it more of a powerful system, like the Xbox1 or PS4. But Nintendo always does their own thing so we'll have to wait and see. You can catch the final Smash video presentation on Nintendo's website today at 2 pm. 

Smash tourney today at FaD 12/11/15

     Smash tournament at FaD went well today. I played some really good people and actually did pretty well against them in friendlies. I felt like I learned more playing friendlies than when I actually played my tournament matches. In the first match I went up against this Mario and I just think he was way better than me and I think there was no way that I could've outplayed him, even at my best. He used the cape pretty well to get offstage kills and his combo game was sick. I can learn a thing or two from him but I don't think I'm going to be playing too much Mario for a while. I learned today that Zero Suit Samus is my true main character, I do really well with her against people who are better than me, and sometimes I can even win against them! My second opponent was a Game and Watch player who, honestly wasn't all that great. He beat me the first game, but I came back with a strong combo game the second match. In the third match he was being hella cheap and kept just attacking me with the same running dash attack and somehow it worked on Town and City. I couldn't believe it worked and nerves probably to me but I pushed on and it was a pretty close game in the last match. I could tell that he was trying his hardest and was barely holding on. It was intense! I had to shake his hand after those games. But honestly I feel like I did best in the friendlies. I realize what I'm doing wrong when I play friendlies but in the midst of a tournament match I have to think faster and change my game plan on the fly, which is much harder to do. Once I master this I'll do much better at these local tournaments. I'm going to start practicing harder at home and with friends as well because honestly I haven't been playing Smash for a while. I'm mostly doing PC gaming but honestly Smash is better than all the PC games I play, with the exception of Starcraft. My friend came too to the tournament but he didn't compete, he just watched. He left me at the tourney for a while and was even kind enough to come back and pick me up to bring me home. What a guy! He even invited his other friend to the tournament but in the end he didn't play either, just watched. It was still cool to introduce new people to a Smash Bros tournament, even though they felt they'd be wasting their $10 just because they'd lose super easily. I would say that this tournament didn't have a lot of people but its not like there was too few people either. Just the right amount I'd say, for a Thursday night. Another one of my friends, from work, was there and it was cool reconnecting with him again. FaD is a great place and I'm going to check off Thursdays from work just so I can keep coming to the tourneys. It's a blast!

Gaming News

     I finally got to play a few games today. I actually woke up early in the day for once! It was a really awesome day, and I even got to hang out with my friend online. We played some Team Fortress 2, arguably one of the greatest fps games ever made, although it doesn't look it by the cartoonish choppy graphics. I had fun and since I'm off tomorrow I made plans to go to the weekly Super Smash Brothers 4 tournament at this place called Fire and Dice (FaD). FaD ain't too far away from my place and its only $10 to enter. I'm planning on bringing one friend but I invited another so it might be the three of us. I'm excited to compete in a tournament, although I can't really say I've been practicing or playing Smash all that much. Since some of my friends just picked up the Wii U, we have played a bit, sometimes gaming super late at night after work. I'm pretty confident in my Mario and Zero Suit Samus skills though. But I'll probably get destroyed by some of those better players. Some of the best players in America are from right here in SoCal, I would say California has the best Smash players and the most competitive scene. I remember living in Wisconsin and I never heard about Smash tournaments anywhere, and there wasn't really cool hobby shops where you could host tournaments. It was lame. California's way better in terms of gaming and entertainment. It's good to be out here! I'm glad to be here although I really wish I could live in New York to be apart of the Jazz scene or at least see all the greats in the Jazz scene. But that's the topic for another post. I probably only mentioned that because I'm listening to some cold Miles Davis cuts. Looking forward to the tourney tomorrow. I hope I can at least beat one person!
     In other news, I've been signing up for a lot of betas. Most of them are new MOBA's that haven't been released yet but one I'm really interested in is The Divison. Lately, I've been getting super into fps games even though I'm terrible at them. I figure if I keep at it I'll get better at them. I have a friend who's a real pro when it comes to fps, he said it takes more than just practice, you just have to be naturally good. I think that's the wrong way to look at it. Also, I think Starwars Battlefront III is a dead game. Dead game confirmed. I was online looking for a game to play with 20v20 people and there was nobody on. Not only that but the price dropped to only $40. If only I waited I could've gotten it for $20 cheaper. Next time I'll have to wait. Battlefront III is such a terrible game though, I don't even consider it fun. I'll give it a few more tries though, because I haven't tested out everything on it yet. Until next time, GG's.

Project M

     

     I finally got my copy of Brawl in through the post. So I downloaded Project M onto an sd card and tested it out. I gotta say that the game is really well made, however, there are some bad things about it as well.
      First of all, the animation and graphics in this fan made mod aren't that great. It's kind of grainy and pixelated for a game mod made on the Wii. Brawl looks a million times better than PM (Project M). Some of the characters downright look horrendous, especially Zero Suit Samus. Her skins in this game are some of the worst looking graphics I've seen in a game since the early PlayStation days. The stages in the game look terrible as well, especially the backgrounds on the stages. We put up with the terrible graphics because the game has amazing gameplay!
      The game-play in this game is terrific. PM has some additional characters that aren't from Brawl, like Roy, Mewtwo, and Dr. Mario. There are some cool skins that come with the characters as well. I really like the Mewtwo skin where he has the helmet thing on his head that was used to control his powers in the first Pokemon movie. I also really dig the Snake Big Boss skin, which is basically Snake wearing some army espionage type clothing with an eye-patch. So the characters are all pretty cool. Now let's discuss some of the game-play mechanics.
     Basically, this game is like Brawl with Melee mechanics. It's hard to describe with words but that's the best way I can explain it. There is wave dashing for one thing, which completely changes the mechanics from Brawl. You can move around and attack much faster in PM. Also, the way you grab and hold onto the stage is the same way as in Melee. You can only grab the stage if you are pointed in the direction of the stage.
     What I really like about this game is how Fox plays. Fox plays pretty much like how he does in Melee, which is a much slower paced Fox from Smash 4, but still quite a deadly and effective character with plenty of potential for nasty killer combos. The main thing that I don't like about PM is how Snake changed pretty drastically. In Brawl I'm a Snake main so the first thing I did on PM was test out how Snake plays and he plays in a more aggressive manner in PM but I still don't quite like the changes. I preferred his missile special attack even though sometimes it was slow and would miss. In addition, I don't like his down B in PM where he throws down land mines and they automatically blow up as soon as you plant them, so you have to immediately spot dodge away and hop that it hits your opponent. It's kind of stupid but it is very effective if it hits. Instead of the missile from Brawl, Snake gets a sleeping dart, which puts opponents to sleep. It's pretty nifty but it only puts them to sleep for maybe 2 seconds, at best. It's an effective tool for getting in that last hit to kill. Lastly, I don't like how they replaced his forward smash with a double knife attack, which if you hold, can add a third hit to it. It kill pretty nicely but its just not flashy enough for Snake in my pinion. Snake should have missiles! I haven't really messed around too much with any of the other characters except Fox and Snake so I can't really say too much about the other characters. I'll mess around and try out other characters and see how they play. I did like how Dr. Mario played when I tried him out today. I'm looking forward to play this game with my friends. It's going to be a big competitive game with the guys, just like Melee, Brawl, and Smash 4, we really play them all. Although I would say our main game that we play a lot is Smash 4 on the Wii U, which I just got recently. If I had to give this mod a rating I would give it a solid 9 out of 10. The graphics need work but the game-play makes up for it. Plus this game is one of the big Smash tourney games at the moment. Every Smasher knows of it but not all of them have played it, making it a nice little add-on addition to the Super Smash Bros universe.